JX Nippon Oil & Energy Co to Sell Residential Fuel Cells in Germany

26 Apr 2012

Japanese residential micro-CHP fuel cell manufacturer JX Nippon Oil & Energy Co (JX NOE) has announced plans to sell its residential SOFC unit in Germany from 2015. It will begin a partnership with the Center for Fuel Cell Technology (ZBT), an affiliate of the University of Duisberg-Essen, from June 2012 to evaluate the suitability of JX NOE’s SOFC system operating under German conditions, particularly with regard to gas quality.

JX NOE is a manufacturer selling into the highly successful Japanese Ene-Farm scheme, which has deployed more than 20,000 residential micro-CHP fuel cell systems in the past three years. Plans for the future of the Ene-Farm scheme are to sell 20,000 units in 2012, rising to 50,000 units by 2015; it is hoped that the increasing volumes will result in price reductions and the German scheme will be an extension of this, alongside exploratory activities in other markets.

Fuel Cell Today understands that by 2015 JX NOE hopes global production volumes will have driven the cost of the system down to a quarter of current levels, to around ¥500,000 ($6,150), making them competitive without subsidies. Both JX NOE and ZBT are exhibiting at the 2012 Hannover Messe.